


As You Left It

by momentinsubtext



Series: Beyond The Help Of Falling Stars [5]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-31
Updated: 2014-08-31
Packaged: 2018-02-15 12:20:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2228808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momentinsubtext/pseuds/momentinsubtext
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack returns to a Torchwood fundamentally different from the one he left behind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As You Left It

"Oh, come on," the Siji teenager whines. "We're not doing any harm."  
  
"You're purposefully terrifying the citizens of this town," Kathy says.  
  
He considers. "Yeah, all right, we're doing _that_ , but we're not _hurting_ them. What else are we supposed to do?"  
  
"Have you considered _not_ scaring them?" Andy suggests.  
  
"No. We're stuck on this backwater planet until we figure out how to get our ship back up to orbit. It's not meant to travel in atmosphere."  
  
"In the future," Kathy says. "It's probably best not to insult your hosts' entire planet, no matter how 'backwater' you think it is. Martha can you-"  
  
"-call my UNIT contact and try to arrange a tow? On it."  
  
"Clever girl." She looks around the room and takes stock of the shed they're standing in. One Siji shuttle, three young Sijiin, and four Torchwood agents. "Since you've proved unable to behave responsibly on your own, two of my agents will stay here to supervise you until arrangements can be made."  
  
"And what if we don't recognize your authority?" one of the Sijiin demands.  
  
Kathy smiles pleasantly. "Then Johnson here is going to stun you with her blaster, and after that Martha is going to call your parents."  
  
"We'll stay."  
  
"I thought you might. Johnson, Andy, you feel up to babysitting duty?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Try not to blend in too much."  
  
"Very funny."  
  
"I try."  
  
Martha hangs up her phone and rejoins them. "We've got the tow. It'll be about three hours and you don't want to know how much it cost."  
  
"I'll ask Gwen to release the funds tonight."  
  
" _Kathy_ ," Lois says over the headset. " _How much longer are you going to be? We've got a situation here._ "  
  
"Not long. What kind of situation."  
  
" _The kind where we got a recording from Jack saying he's on his way back to Cardiff._ "  
  
"Oh, hell," she says. "That's just what we need. I'm on my way. Have we got an ETA?"  
  
" _Nothing more specific than today._ "  
  
"Wonderful. Get everyone up to date, I'll be there as soon as I can."  
  
" _All right. Kathy..._ "  
  
"What else?"  
  
" _The recording also said... he's bringing a friend._ "  
  
Kathy closes her eyes and counts to three. "Of course he is, why would I expect anything else? Have we got enough in the housing budget to put them up in a hotel for a couple days?"  
  
Lois does some quick maths. " _Yes. But no more than a week unless you want to stall the reconstruction._ "  
  
"I don't. A week should be fine. We aren't officially responsible for them at all, I just don't want them snogging on the sofa while the rest of us figure out what to do about them. Arrange it."  
  
" _Consider it done._ "  
  
"Thanks, Lois." Kathy looks at Martha. "Did you catch all that?"  
  
"Yeah. We'd better step on it."  
  
  
  
"Nothing yet?" Kathy asks, letting herself into the flat.  
  
"Not even a whisper," Lois confirms. "The recording didn't specify a location either, so I had Mickey track it back and transmit coordinates."  
  
"Here?"  
  
"Easier than trying to track them down in the city."  
  
"Good call." She nods to include Mickey. "Is Rhys going to join us?"  
  
"Not if he can't find a sitter on such short notice." She hesitates. "Speaking of, it's Nikki's turn tomorrow, do you want me to switch?"  
  
It isn't that Johnson is bad with the baby - in fact she's startlingly good with him, has him giggling away happily without ever compromising her dignity, and when she holds him she gets this look in her eyes that Lois refuses to think about unless she's had a pint or two first - it's that she's the one who has the blaster, and that tends to be handy in a crisis.  
  
"Not yet. We should know tonight if it will be necessary."  
  
She nods, then gets up and goes through the decontamination room into the archive closet and comes back with a flash drive. "Torchwood policy for dealing with the eventual return of Captain Jack Harkness," she says. "Gwen gave it to me right after he left, said not to look at it until he was actually back. Is this too early?"  
  
"No, but let's see that recording first. Mickey?"  
  
"You want it on the flatscreen?"  
  
"Yes, please."  
  
"You got it." He switches the television on and plugs the laptop he's using into it. The screen flickers and then is filled with Jack's face.  
  
The recording is about what you'd expect. Addressed to Gwen, unreasonably presumptuous, and short on actual information.  
  
"It's not as bad as I imagined," Kathy says finally, after the screen has returned to the Rift-activity scan. "Now the policy, Lois."  
  
She passes the flash drive to Mickey, who plugs it into the laptop. Gwen's face takes the place Jack's had recently been.  
  
"Jack's gone," she says. "He left the planet, I don't know for how long. He gave me this job temporarily, I thought, as a stop-gap while he travelled around the world. But he's not travelling this world anymore, and here I am." She takes a deep breath. "I've changed the administrative access codes. If or when Jack returns to Earth, Torchwood will recognize him as an ally, maybe even an operative, but not as an authority. I'll attach text documents with what little I've learned about Jack during the time we worked together, and the circumstances of... the thing that made him leave. I'll write up a proper protocol at some point-"  
  
"She didn't," Lois inserts.  
  
"-but our policy is to be that his judgement is suspect but his knowledge isn't. Nothing he's left in our possession ought to be returned to him, and he shouldn't be allowed to touch anything alien unless you know for sure what it does and what he means to do with it. As far as access goes, he knows more than we do about aliens so keep him the loop, but he doesn't get a key to _anything_ unless I approve it personally."  
  
"That's a bit harsh," Martha says.  
  
"He's a good man, most of the time. Try to remember that, because I'm too angry now to order you to be respectful." The recording skips and then Gwen, who hadn't been looking down before, looks up. "Additionally, while you'll soon be aware that he won't stay dead if you kill him, you should _still not kill him._ "  
  
The recording winks out.  
  
"That bit was for Nikki," Lois says.  
  
"Bring up the documents," Kathy says without commenting; Lois is probably right. "Nothing to do now but wait."  
  
  
  
Johnson and Andy return before anything even remotely happens. By that time they have Rhys up on the screen - he couldn't find a sitter, it turns out, but doesn't want to be excluded. They settle in for a game of cards that turns into several games of cards and eventually Thai food.  
  
"She's _cheating_!" Andy is saying, pointing at Johnson, when the computer pings. All other activity ceases.  
  
"That's them," Mickey says, checking it. "Vortex activity in Medical."  
  
Kathy looks at Lois. "That's a broad definition of _here_."  
  
Lois shrugs. "This way we have some warning. Do you want to go get them, or should I?"  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
She nods and slips out the door.  
  
"Clear this stuff up," Kathy says, motioning to the... now-empty table. "Oh. Very good."  
  
Johnson rolls her eyes. "And I wasn't cheating."  
  
"Were so."  
  
"Not."  
  
"So."  
  
"Not."  
  
" _Please_ behave," Kathy interrupts. "Johnson, even I know you were cheating. Andy, it doesn't matter."  
  
Three raps on the door, then it opens to admit Lois, Jack, and Alonso.  
  
"Captain Harkness," Kathy says smoothly, cutting off whatever awful remark Jack was going to make. "Welcome to Torchwood."  
  
"Where's Gwen?" is Jack's first question after introductions have been made all around for those who need them.  
  
They'd discussed this beforehand.  
  
 _("How are we going to tell him that Gwen's off travelling with the love of his life?"  
  
"Not like that.")_  
  
"On a business trip," Johnson half-lies. "It's classified."  
  
"I have clearance!"  
  
"Eh," Andy says. "Not so much for this, I'm afraid. Sorry, mate."  
  
"This isn't what we were expecting," Alonso says apologetically. "Which one of you is in charge?"  
  
"That would be me."  
  
"Of course it would," Jack says.  
  
Kathy looks at Lois. "As far as I'm concerned you can send them to the hotel now and Gwen can deal with them when she gets back."  
  
"Kathy!"  
  
"I know, I know." She waves her hand and then pinches the bridge of her nose. "You're hardly my favourite person either, Captain, but for Gwen's sake I'm going to follow the policy she set and treat you like an asset rather than throwing you in the brig, which would have been my first instinct. No offense intended, Mister Frame."  
  
"It's Alonso. And none taken. Jack clearly has unresolved business here that he didn't bother to mention before we arrived," he says easily.  
  
Lois looks at him curiously. "That doesn't bother you?"  
  
"That's not how it works with us."  
  
A smile breaks out on Jack's face and the arm he has slung around Alonso's waist slips lower. "Isn't he great?"  
  
"Hence the hotel," Kathy says to Lois, who nods. "We have questions-"  
  
She's interrupted by the tinny ring of the phone in Rhys' house.  
  
"That'll be Gwen," he says. "What do you want me to say about...?"  
  
"Nothing," Kathy says. "No need to bother her with this until she's in a position to do something about it."  
  
"She'll be pissed when she gets back."  
  
"I can handle it."  
  
He nods and disconnects.  
  
"That means we have about five minutes before she calls here," Lois says. "And there are way too many of us in this flat."  
  
Kathy frowns. "You're right. She'll definitely suspect something's up."  
  
"Mickey and I can head over to Medical," Martha volunteers.  
  
"Go." They go. "Andy, Johnson, get these two into decontamination and keep them there until I say."  
  
Andy and Johnson hustle a protesting Jack and a not-so-protesting Alonso into the decontamination room. She can still hear the protests for a minute more before they cut off abruptly.  
  
"Johnson, remember the end of Gwen's message."  
  
"It's on stun," Johnson calls back. "And I haven't shot him yet."  
  
"Try not to shoot him _at all_."  
  
"You never let me shoot things."  
  
"Don't start."  
  
"Fine," she pouts.  
  
There's silence from the decontamination room. Kathy lets herself breath. They're as prepared for Gwen's call as they can be.  
  
  
  
"How did it go today?" Gwen asks from the screen.  
  
" _Teenagers_ ," Kathy says. "It was just teenagers playing pranks. Sijiin."  
  
Gwen laughs. "No, really?"  
  
"Really. I gave them a stern talking to and sent them home. You're going to have to release the funds for the tow we got from UNIT."  
  
"How bad is it?" She winces when Kathy tells her. "At least it's within budget. We _have_ to find a better way of dealing with these things."  
  
"Maybe we should just let Johnson shoot them," Kathy suggests, joking. "She's getting twitchy because I won't let her shoot things."  
  
"I don't think it's got to that point yet," Gwen says.  
  
At the same time, Johnson shouts. "Hey! I don't get twitchy!"  
  
Kathy clamps down on the urge to scream. They'd been doing _so well_.  
  
"Did I just hear-?"  
  
"She's in time out with Andy," Lois says, her voice just slightly off, like she's been drinking but not enough to be drunk. "Celebratory drinks turned into celebratory cards and then Andy said Nikki was cheating, so we put them in decontamination so they wouldn't break anything."  
  
"Sh' _was_ cheating," Andy slurs through the door in a fair approximation of drunk.  
  
"I'm sure she was," Gwen says. "You seem to have everything under control."  
  
Kathy says a silent thank you to the universe for giving her a team who could pull that off. "Which doesn't mean I wouldn't mind quietly stepping back down to second place. Any idea when you'll be getting back?"  
  
"Not really. I've got the Doctor-" There are muffled noises from decontamination, which Kathy resolutely ignores. If Johnson had shot him she wouldn't even mind, they hadn't planned for this and it's the worst possible way for that information to get out. "-to agree to 'before Kieve's birthday', but nothing more specific than that. I'm not sure it's a good idea to leave him on his own."  
  
"He's not your responsibility, Gwen," she says. "If there's one alien thing that doesn't fall under Torchwood's mandate, it's the Doctor."  
  
Lois giggles.  
  
"Someone's been reading up on their history," Gwen says. She looks back at Kathy. "I know he's not my responsibility, but he's my friend and I'm worried about him. I think maybe something went wrong the last time he died and came back. He's not like the stories, Kath, 'cept maybe a couple of Jack's." More muffled noises. She hasn't shot him, then. "He has these episodes... I just worry that he'll go off and do something unbelievably stupid if he doesn't have someone watching out for him."  
  
"Maybe you can find him someone to keep around before you come back. You've got a few months left before that deadline."  
  
"And knowing him we'll use every one of them. All right. Tomorrow at six, audio only?"  
  
"Sure. Not gonna be in the ship?"  
  
"He says we're going to prove that the HMS Friday didn't just disappear."  
  
"Be careful."  
  
"Always. Are we finished?"  
  
"I can't think of anything else." A third set of muffled noises. "Bye, Gwen."  
  
"Bye, Kathy, Lois." The call disconnects.  
  
"Well, that could have gone better," Kathy says. She sighs. "You can come out now. Johnson, what were you thinking? You could have-"  
  
"-blown the whole op, I know. It was stupid and I apologize, it won't happen again. Can we please move on?"  
  
Kathy blinks at her, then nods. "Fine. Thank you for not shooting him even when I would have let you get away with it."  
  
"I could have-" She cuts herself off. "You're welcome."  
  
"Lois, get Martha and Mickey back in here and Rhys back up on the screen. We're not finished yet."  
  
  
  
"This is ridiculous," Jack mutters, even though he's already agreed to it. After  answering all of Torchwood's questions, and after Kathy had finally allowed him to look through the last eleven months worth of records - a long streak of competency and crises not caused by Torchwood, as far as he was concerned - and after wincing his way through Gwen's policy message, he'd finally taken Kathy up on her offer to 'consider them both probationary agents subject to Gwen's review'. Alonso had jumped on board immediately. "And unfair."  
  
"Because leaving the planet in Gwen's hands was completely fair," Andy says. "And not at all ridiculous."  
  
"That was different!"  
  
"Because you did it? Not how it works."  
  
Jack isn't sulking, but only because he's making a concentrated effort at it. Alonso pats his knee.  
  
"Buck up, boy-o," Johnson says, sliding into the front seat. "Gwen'll be back in a couple months, she'll probably let you stay."  
  
"Hey," Andy protests. "How come you get to drive?"  
  
"You weren't fast enough."  
  
"But I have the..." The keys jingle in Johnson's hand. "You pickpocketed me. Johnson!"  
  
"You should have caught me, so you deserve it."  
  
He gets into the passenger seat. "I need to practice more."  
  
"Tomorrow at noon, assuming nothing pings?"  
  
"I'll bring lunch."  
  
Johnson looks up to meet Jack's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Unlike some people, I don't mind seeing compromising things when I glance in the mirror, but Andy here blushes at the drop of a hat, so try to restrain yourselves until you get to the hotel."  
  
"I think we can manage that," Jack says with a small grin.


End file.
